An existing panoramic surveillance apparatus generally includes a panoramic lens and a charge-coupled device (CCD)/complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging assembly. The panoramic surveillance apparatus sends an analog video output signal to a panoramic video server, which then transmits converted images to a surveillance room or directly to a monitor for display. A panoramic camera is a newly-developed panoramic surveillance apparatus, which is able to provide 360-degree wide range surveillance with no blind spots, eliminating the need for multiple cameras. FIG. 1 is a structural diagram illustrating a method in the prior art of 360-degree horizontal angle of view panoramic imaging. As shown in FIG. 1, an imaging device 102 is positioned at the focal plane 104 of a panoramic imaging lens, and the optical axis 103 of the panoramic imaging lens 101 passes through the geometric center of the imaging device 102.
The inventors found that the method in the prior art has a disadvantage that in the case where the vertical angles of view are equal and the horizontal angle of view is less than 360 degrees, too much useless information is generated and the utilization rate of pixels is relatively low.